Monthly Archives: April 2006

In front of Singha Durbar: Nepali people are constantly pressurizing to their leaders who have assumed the responsibility of fulfilling their aspirations. Pics by Wagle

The best thing about democracy is that it lets people have their say. Another hallmark is that the folks at the government can’t stop people from raising their voices. Here is an example. Protests right in front of the gate of Singha Durbar yesterday and today signal the arrival of free days. In the days of autocracy of king Gyanendra, the government declared many places of Kathmandu restricted for public demonstrations. No one could have even imagined of protesting freely at the west gate of Singha Durbar like hundreds of protesters did yesterday and this afternoon. This right to protest really makes difference.

These are the people who fought for freedom and now they are warning their own government to work for people. They were carrying placards that said not to promote corrupt politicians, not to forget the agendas of the Jana Andolaan (Peoples’ Movement). And of course, they were saying that all they want is to see Nepal without monarchy. Here are a few images from today’s gathering in front of Singha Durbar.

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Why Nepali people hate monarchy?UWB received this article from Zhao Mei. And we enjoyed reading this.

There will be many postmortems on the decayed cadaver of the royal Rana and Shah families. The clause in the 1990 constitution of Nepal that bars criticism of the royal family and effectively places them above the law will have to be removed in a new constitution, and witnesses to the inner workings of the palace will have to be granted immunity from prosecution, before the full story of the tragic events of the past decade and the ongoing tragedy before our eyes can be fully told. What is known throughout Nepal but never openly expressed, includes the following:

Unlike the royal families of India, the Shah and Rana families never considered it necessary to prepare their children to serve a useful function in the modern world. They never sent their children out to the villages of the hills and the terai to come to understand the hardship, suffering, and despair of the great majority of the people of Nepal. They didn’t send their sons and daughters abroad to get a first class education so they could come back to Nepal and be productive contributors to Nepal’s development. In their family owned businesses, they never considered following modern business practices but relied on their political power and wealth to coerce and bribe, to deny opportunity to others, and to prevent any competition. If tobacco, alcohol, and gambling are the most profitable sources of personal revenue in Nepal, so what if it violates the central tenants of Vaishnaism and undermines the core claim to legitimacy for Nepal being a Hindu state with a Hindu king; all the better to retain a monopoly as far as possible. Rather than invest their profits in Nepal, they have stashed their profits away in foreign banks. In short, their business interests, rather than stimulating the economy, put a break on economic development.

Nor did the royal family ever interact with Nepal’s intellectuals, writers, poets, scholars, or political leaders unless they bowed and scraped and said and wrote what the palace wanted to hear. Any intellectual whose understanding of what was happening socially, culturally, or economically in Nepal led to the conclusion that change was necessary; found themselves without a job, censored, denied a visa to travel, and if they persisted, they ended up in jail. This total lack of interest in ideas and aversion to debate, resulted in Nepal’s rulers living in an intellectual vacuum. I will leave it to experts in genetics and behavioral psychology to assess the impact of one hundred and fifty years of inbreeding on the intellectual capacity and social behavior of the princes of the royal family whose reported activities have violated the moral conscience of Nepal. Mentally, as well as physically, the royal family has lived in isolation from the rest of Nepal. They do not appear to have ever made an effort to break out of the total isolation forced upon then during the Rana period, nor give up the pleasures and vices they were offered as an alternative to holding power. It appears they never understood that they could only have one or the other, but not both. As a result, they lost the moral authority to play the traditional ceremonial role as preservers of tradition and never acquired the knowledge or skills to be a positive force in the political and economic development of Nepal.

In the realm of politics, the royal family has never shown any ambition beyond holding onto, and in the case of his monarch, expanding royal power. Corruption was never an issue unless it could be used to bring down an enemy, otherwise, it was accept as “business as usual.” Any effort at social or economic reform was seen as a threat to the status and wealth of the royal family and thwarted with a combination of threats and bribes wherever necessary. Had the Palace been less reactionary in thwarting social and economic reforms, including the desperate need for land reform in western Nepal, the demands of the early 90”s in parliament for social reforms and expanded opportunities for Nepal’s minorities could have been met and the present civil conflict between the Palace and the Maobadi avoided.

Nothing could provide greater proof of the total disconnect between the Palace and the people of Nepal than King Gyanendra’s televised speech on Friday evening, April 21, 2006. Beginning his speech with “beloved countrymen” he seemed totally unaware that the feeling was not mutual, that throughout Nepal hundreds of thousands of his beloved countrymen were marching on government offices in district centers and on the Royal Palace calling for an end to the Shah dynasty. The vehemence of the curses of his subjects as they watched the broadcast, locked in their homes by a curfew and orders to “shoot on sight’ anyone venturing out, reflected the pent-up rage of a people fed up with more lies. The “meaningful exercise in multiparty democracy’ was not, as he claimed, the royal coup of February 1, 2005, but a revolution taking place at that very moment on the streets of Nepal demanding full democracy. Was the king aware that his “civil servants demonstrated [their] sincerity towards their duties” while he was speaking by deserting their offices and joining the demonstrators on the street? Did the king know that at the very moment he was praising his security personnel for “upholding their glorious traditions” his police were clubbing to death innocent women and children and his soldiers were using live ammunition and shooting to kill his beloved countrymen for daring to exercise their fundamental right to speech and assembly?

Was the king’s speech an extraordinary example of self deception? Certainly no one else in Nepal was fooled. Western reporters may be excused for not knowing that in Nepal “the Prime Minister and council of Ministers which will bear the responsibility of governing the country in accordance with the Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal- 1990” have no control over the military, and that the kings of Nepal , as Commander in Chief of the Royal Nepal Army, have never hesitated to use the army to overthrow any government that threatened their hold on power as has the present king. Did the king think that the leaders of the political parties, after being dismissed from office and thrown into prison under the king’s interpretation of the 1990 constitution, would be such fools as to fall into the same old trap again?

Serious questions are raised from listening to King Gyanendra’s speech. If the king truly believed what he said, can a monarch so ignorant of the will of his people be allowed to control an army and use it against his own people? Has the king by his own actions so undermined his own moral authority that the monarchy in Nepal has become an expensive anachronism that an impoverished Nepal can no longer afford? If this is the case, then the king has no choice but to take his entire family and go into exile.

If we assume that the king, through his extensive intelligence network knew exactly what was happening while he was speaking, and will say anything, and do anything, to hold on to power; then, prosecution rather than exile may be his fate. In attempting to turn back the clock to an earlier and more regressive period in Nepal’s history, time has run out on the monarchy and the verdict from the street is that it has no place in Nepal’s future. What ever happens to the royal family, it will certainly be the coroner’s verdict that death was caused by self inflicted wounds.

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Changing the National Anthem (that sings the song of the kings) and renaming His Majesty’s Government to the Government of Nepal might seem like cosmetic changes. But these proposed changes symbolize Nepali peoples’ deep hatred to Monarchy. An article in Nepali:

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Yes, this is real: As their leaders were discussing the future of Nepal inside the Parliament building in Singha Durbar, pro-democracy people ghearoed the country’s administrative center (where parliament house is located) to pressurize parliamentarians to take bold steps for constituent assembly. Activists went up to the statue of Prithvi Narayan Shah, who according to history books, unified Nepal some two hundred fifty years ago. Pic by Shaligram Tiwari

Blogger Tilak Pathak, who was in parliament this afternoon, reports:

Chitra Lekha Yadad read out the written message of Prime Minister Giirja Prasad Koirala. He proposed the parliament to hold an election to constituent assembly stating that his first commitment would be to implement the seven parties’ roadmap and the 12-point understanding. When Yadav read out the following lines, the house erupted in joy: “As per my commitment to go to constituent assembly to resolve the problems facing the country, I have registered a proposal to hold constituent assembly elections at the Parliament today itself.”

The first meeting of reinstated parliament became historic not only because of the circumstances but because of some procedures as well. There was no crown in the Gallery Baithak. The meeting convened at 5: 30 PM. Deputy Speaker Chitra Lekha Yadav chaired the meeting. Members welcomed her by with the thunderous applause. She welcomed all MPs and they raised to mark a two-minute silence to remember the martyr of second edition of the People’s Movement. “This meeting is historic,” she said. “International community were also surprised by the power of Nepal’s Peoples’ Movement.” She also said that people’s power has established the participatory democracy by defeating the power of gun.

– When former Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba entered inside the Gallery Baithak at 3:45 PM, all MPs began to laugh. I couldn’t hear what he said but they might be talking about that day when Deuba recommended the dissolution of the same house four years ago.

-Many people expected Prime Minister Koirala to appear in the meeting. He didn’t come because of deteriorating health. In the written message Koirala hoped to assume the responsibility of Prime Minister because of the improving health condition.

-Indian communist leader Sita Ram Yachuri came inside the Parliament at 5:30 PM. Yadav informed the MPs about his arrival and welcomed him.

Original Post:
……….

Update3: Okay, the session is over now till Baishak 17 (April 30).

Update2:Oh my God, its historic. The rare scene from inside the Gallery Baithak is that every MP is approving this announcement from the prime minister via Deputy Speaker in unified manner: To go for constituent assembly.

Update: Yadav is reading out the written message from Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala in which he has tabled the proposal for the constituent assembly. He has mentioned that his first priority is to work as per the lines of the Seven Party Alliance and the 12-point understanding between the SPA and the Maoists.

Earlier we wrote: The historic first session of the parliament that was restored last week as per the popular demand of Nepali people has begun. Deputy Speaker of the House Chitra Lekha Yadav is in charge of the session. She is currently addressing the session as members of the parliament are approving her remarks. Nepali people were anxiously waiting to see the newly reinstated House of Representative in action this afternoon. The session began nearly four hours after the scheduled time. Earlier in the afternoon Kantipur Television was (and now too) constantly feeding live footage from inside the Gallery Baithak (the Parliament House).

Members of Parliament from all parties were appearing in front of the KTV cameras turn by turn from inside the meeting hall explaining the purpose of the today’s meeting. People in Kathmandu were (and are) glued to their TV sets. Seeing Chitra Lekha Yadav now on TV running the session reminds me of that day when these parliamentarians went to the courtyard of Patan Durbar Square to hold the special session of the House after they were denied the hall in downtown Kathmandu. Minutes after that special session began, it started raining. Parliamentarians didn’t seem to be caring about that. They continued the program even as the water from high above the sky started pouring in heavily.

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Maoist student organization is organizing a mass meeting in the heart of Kathmandu as we are writing these lines. Rallies from different parts of the city have reached Khula Manch, the mass meeting venue.Pics by Wagle

Shahid ko ragat ke bhanchha
Ganatantra le bhanchha

[Blood of the martyrs demands republicanism in Nepal]

That was the most chanted slogan in a rally that went from Tinkune half an hour ago. The destination of the rally? Khula Manch (open air theater) of course where a pro-Maoist student organization is holding a mass meeting. I saw a Nepali Congress flag in the rally in which participants were shouting slogans like Nisart sambidhan sabha ghosana gar [Declare unconditional Constituent Assembly], Shahi sena kharej gar, rastriya sena ghosana gar [Scrap the royal army, announce the national army]. My personal guess is that the char tare (four star) flag carrier was not a Nepali Congress activist. The rally was different form that of the previous one- organized by the Seven Party Alliance. And that is obvious because today’s rally is organized by All Nepal National Free Student Union Revolutionary (ANNFSU-R). Continue reading Maoists Rally In Kathmandu→

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The protests against king’s autocratic rules and solidarity for the restoration of democracy defied boundaries. Be it Pakistanis in Karanchi or the Nepali students in Boston, the voice was one: Down With Autocracy

A rally at Karachi Press Club in April 26 to show solidarity with the people of Nepal in the support for the struggle to uproot monarchy and restore people’s rule

Nepali students demanding democracy in Boston, US

(The demonstration in Boston organized by some students and professionals at MIT was probably the first of its kind in a US University)

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This is the last part of the article that proceeds debate on the necessity/relevance of monarchy in Nepal at a time when the country is heading for Constituent Assembly.

By Mahesh Poudyal

The culture of monarchy

What answer do you get/expect to get if you ask a British or other European who has a constitutional or ceremonial monarchy in their country – “what has your monarchy given you?”? The first thing I get from them is the sense of pride they have in their royal institution and their tradition. They (most of them anyway) seem very proud to have a father(/mother?)-of-the-nation-like figure in their country who they could look up to, like a model-family, role model for the people to follow. I have to admit this is more so with regards to the Dutch and the Nordic royal family than the British. Nevertheless, the British royal family never ceases to amuse its people – like Hollywood celebrities. Anyway, coming back to the point – our own monarchy – are we proud of our monarch? Do we accept him (its always him in case of Nepal sadly!) as a father-of-the-nation figure who unites our multiethnic, multi-religious, multicultural society? Are we proud in the culture of our monarchy? Continue reading Is Monarchy Relevant for Nepal? (Part III)→

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History Repeats in Nepal: Is Jana Andolan II compromised just like Jana Andolan I ?

By Santosh

Seven parties and most of protestors are euphoric about royal proclamation to reinstate parliament. However, there is very less realization that it’s not a real achievement but rather a continuity of the post 1990 scenario.

Royal Intentions

The intention of King is not sincere. The act of reestablishing parliament is a bargaining chip and way to keep the royalties involved in power. If you look at the sequence of royal announcements, this dishonesty is clear. First, Gyanendra ordered ban on protests and shoot-on-sight curfew. Second, he invited Surya Bahadur Thapa and Krishna Prasad Bhattarai, royal leaning politicians, to arrange a new power sharing agreement. Third, a couple of days later after record demonstrations, he announced that PM post will go to seven party alliance. Please note that security personnel imprisoned Bam Dev Gautam and Jhala Nath Khanal at the Tribhuvan International Airport the same day when he was preparing to hand over the executive power. Fourth, when protestors rejected and protests got bigger, he announced the reinstatement of parliament.

If you look at intentions of Gyanendra, in each and every stage, he tried all he could to retain his absolute powers. At any given instance, he could have declared what people were asking.
Even at the day of declaration, King was bringing more security personnel from Pokhara and neighboring cities. The pro republicans such as Narahari Acharya and member of civil societies were still under royal custody when the declarations were made. This proves the degree of honesty of the current king.

Royal Declaration

The royal declaration does not address the demand of constituent assembly and handing over of security personnel to the parliament. One might attribute King’s pride for not declaring all the demands of protestors but when security personnel start to kill protestors, the question of preserving pride of one person becomes irrelevant.

Constituent assembly is not possible under the constitution of 1990. Even with 2/3rd of parliament endorsing new constitution, the king has the final decision to any changes in constitution. The upper house is still dominated by 1/3 rd of royal appointees. After repeated breach of constitution by King, practically the 1990 constitution is dead. There is no provision in constitution that allows King to safeguard executive powers in him or to create post of the Chair of the Council of Ministers. Gyanendra has no respect for the constitution of 1990. This point has been proved by media crackdown of the last two years, by political revenge seeking through unconstitutional royal anti graft commission, by appointment of royal sycophants in constitutional bodies like election commission, attorney general, and Supreme Court and by massive waste of national resources in royalties who cannot be prosecuted under the 1990 constitution.

It is useless to ask Supreme Court for any constitutional advice. The 1990 constitution is a tool which king is using to legitimize his illegitimate acts to ordinary Nepalese and international community. The effort to revive such dead constitution is tantamount to continuation of the monarchy and undermines the popular movement of Jana Andolan II. Restoration of parliament is a royal setup to keep on preserving monarchy.

The provision of Security Council under the 1990 constitution does not guarantee that army will be under civilian control. King has showed no intention to leave the control of army. The Security Council can only recommend actions and the final decision is taken by head of the army, which is king. The Supreme Court can not decide on any military affairs. The promotion in army is controlled de-facto by king. You just need to look at the current list of army general and colonels to see the number of Ranas, Shahs and Thapas. Royal Nepal Army is a plutocracy where only die hard royalists and extended member of royal family have top places. As the top army brass is composed of royal members, military has always remained loyal to king and not to elected government. The incident of GP Koirala resigning after refusal of army to rescue police trapped by Maoists proves this point. The plutocracy and irregularities in military funds (arms purchase & army employee provident fund) is sustaining this situation. As long as army and police are under control of King, there is absolutely no guarantee that King will not backtrack once the protests have subsided.

Officially, 14 protestors have died and several hundreds injured. The real death toll and the number of victims can be far higher. As the security apparatus ultimately reported to king, King should be held accountable for the loss of lives. Extending heart-full condolences to the death victims after giving orders to shoot them is not sufficient. Prosecuting only the police/army officers who gave orders to shoot is ignoring the fact that these people were just tools and order came from somewhere else.

Royal Booby Trap

The king has thrown ball in parties’ court. The objective of this action was not to restore democracy but to ridicule it. King handed power, as he knew that political parties will fight among each other for power. By trying to sow a seed for fight, King hopes to regain credibility in the eyes of ordinary citizens. This is the same strategy like CPN UML who used to say and repeat 10 thousand times that GP Koirala is bad to mean that they are good.

King Gyanendra’s is the last ditched attempt to save monarchy and we Nepalese seem to be falling in his trap. Paras might never be recognized as a legitimate ruler without proving that he has not killed Praveen Gurung et al. It is in the interest of king to declare the navayuvaraj the crown prince. Stripping Paras of his crown prince title will at least bring some solace to the falling institution of monarchy. Let us hope King does not get that clever.

The current arrangement has made impossible the entering of Maoists in the mainstream. This marriage of convenience between SPA and Monarch imperils the peace efforts of Nepal and risks prolonged civil war.

Fear of Maoist takeover

SPA leaders as well as Royalists are afraid of imaginary Maoist takeover. This situation is impossible due to national and international considerations. But propagandists have been using and spreading this fear to maintain/justify their favorite regimes. Fear is the most easiest and convincing tool in the times of uncertainty.

In the international front, Maoist takeover is a day dream. The US won’t accept at any case Maoist coming to power as this will challenge the global US hegemony. They don’t want these Maoists to keep on exporting some revolution. The current global regime suits US. US has all new discoveries, all best companies, all minds of universe, a very favorable international trade regime, a highly protected local market, a very good living standard for nationals and financial/technical power to exploit resources around the world. EU has same commercial position as US and tries to project itself as champion of human rights.

Try to talk about trade in services and reduction of agricultural subsidy in developed nations and these democracy champions will make you international enemy like Mahathir Mohammad or Hugo Chavez. The US/EU don’t need to colonize developing countries. World Bank, IMF and WTO act on behalf of these countries to get the favorable trading regime. The extremists such as Maoist are threat to this delicate international balance. The hypocrite world regime will do all it can to destroy the Maoists and that is the destiny of the Maoists.

Just look at FARC, any other South American countries, or any African country. A couple of hundred million dollar injection to Nepalese army will give it so much firepower that Maoists simply fade off. Imagine the havoc created in Maoists by those Old Russian helicopters and flying cage-like cheetah chopper. And now imagine, bulletproof and missile proof Apaches replacing them. Hundred million dollar or even a billion dollar injection in the current world is actually peanuts compared to the size of economies of developed world.

The India Factor

Similarly, historically India wants instability in Nepal to create favorable water/energy deals. Koshi and Mahakali are the live examples. Their current priority is economic development and energy is a key issue in this development. As with all powerful countries, India tries to use its muscle to have favorable trading regimes and that includes energy. But just for water/electricity, they don’t want instability to go so far that the state of Nepal fails. They just want a favorable regime in Kathmandu. If there is chaos in Nepal, there will be chaos in India as there is no border between these two countries. The Indian army is already overstretched. They already have enough warlike situations in Kashmir and North East India. Fear of Indian takeover of Nepal is unrealistic. This is too big a problem to digest for India and this step even risks the whole integrity of India as a country in a danger. This is one of the royalist fear creating campaign. The worst case scenario of India is to have government led by Maoists who try to fight India’s historical hegemonic role. The Maoist should realize that this is impossible.

The convenience marriage of SPA with King might sound like music to international community but it creates a great danger to the state of Nepal. If the Maoist- Nepal Army fighting continues and so called representative government can get military support of foreign countries, the result is going to be an ever bloodier war. The Maoist will be defeated. They don’t have nay chance to win militarily. But the victims will be thousand of Nepalese people. This killing of each other must stop.

Respect for Nepalese People

It is disgusting to see utter disrespect of Nepalese people in the political discussions. This is the people who fought against autocracy of Ranas in 2007 (1950). This is the people who fought against autocracy of King Birendra in 1990. This is the people who fought against autocracy of King Gyanendra in 2006. If the Maoists come to power and start a dictatorship of proletariat, the same people will rise again and throw them away. The same people will rise if ever a foreign country tries to invade Nepal. I see absolutely no reason why constitution assembly should not be declared as soon as possible. Choosing a government is a fundamental right and not a privilege given by somebody else. The current stage is not an achievement.

If there is referendum on the future of monarchy or if there is constituent assembly polls, we can be certain that it was a right decision to accept reestablishment of parliament. But most signs are not positive. Judging by history of unholy political compromises done till now, I think this Jana Andolan II has been compromised by king if the protestors lose their voice in the days and months to come. I would like to end this article with a positive note.

Revolution means a process through which change is initiated. Once started this has no end. It is a process of improvement in itself. This has started in 1990 and it will have only positive results in the future. The Nepalese people deserve a pride and respect for fighting for what they believe is right.

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After spending three weeks in the United States, blogger Dinesh Wagle is back in action on the politically sensitive streets of Kathmandu.

If you go by the opinions on the street, you will conclude that everyone wants to see a Democratic Republic of Nepal. Yes, Bikash Sherpa included. All pics by Wagle

Who is this boy? What is he doing? Where? When? Now the answers of all those questions: His name is Bikash Sherpa, 19. The IA first year student at Public Youth Campus, Kathmandu, works as a Noodles sales agent to earn his living. I found him today among the jubilant crowd of pro-democracy Nepalese celebrating the restoration of parliament in Kathmandu’s open air theater (popularly known as Khula Manch). I could understand he was in hurry; he had to go to work. But he couldn’t leave the venue where artists including Nanda Krishna Joshi and Rubin Gandarva were singing the songs and poems of democracy demonizing king Gyanendra. Continue reading They Want Republic Nepal… Jhyamma Jhyamma→

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The Seven Party Alliance (SPA) held a mass meeting at the Open Theatre, Ratnapark to celebrate the victory of people where the people ‘talked and showed’ they are still skeptical on politicians’ commitment to constituent assembly and republic.

The most indicating was a big banner prepared by Civil Society of Ghattekula that read:

While bathing is a luxury we like to provide ourselves, when you invest some time in hot water, you wash away the oils that protect your skin. These ingredients are natural with well documented safety and success profiles. Not only that, it stimulates the creation of collagen and increases soluble collagen inside dermis.

May we all know about your parents also?as we all know about his talent and practice but the true struggle behind this all,we also know about that .let what is the struggle behind this his parents tell better.